Making Students Salesforce Ready with Digital Bootcamp

Mud, sweat and tears – this is what comes to mind when thinking of a bootcamp, right? Well, not quite for the bootcamp offered to 16 students at St. Gallen University in Switzerland.

In November 2022, we officially kicked off the Salesforce x Deloitte Digital Bootcamp in collaboration with the student association Data Science & Tech Club at the university.

3 parties, 1 goal and a fast-track hiring opportunity

The Tech Club promotes digitalisation, data science, and technology, covering a broad range of topics from AI and IoT to Blockchain and Data Visualisation. They offer students a platform to learn, shape, and network, bringing them together with industry experts and allowing them to engage in hands-on, interdisciplinary projects – and this is where Salesforce and Deloitte DC (Deloitte Digital Customer) came into play!

The main goal of the bootcamp was to introduce students to the tech industry and at the same time train them in Salesforce technology with the ultimate goal of placing them in the Salesforce ecosystem of customers and partners – in this case, our strategic partner Deloitte DC.

Deloitte DC works with clients to imagine, deliver and run the capabilities for cutting-edge, digitally enabled sales and channel systems. They help customers formulate their go-to-market strategy, taking into account design incentives, sales effectiveness and a 360-degree view of the customer with Salesforce solutions. During the bootcamp experience, Deloitte DC was able to collaborate with and support students on their Salesforce journey.

The Bootcamp Set-Up

A key element of the bootcamp was a virtual, expert-led bootcamp offered by Trailhead, our free online learning platform. During the virtual 6-week course, the students were trained on Salesforce Admin certification – a certification designed for anyone who wants to learn the ins and outs of Salesforce administration with a flexible self-paced learning schedule.

So what’s the difference between training marines and training Salesforce Admins you might wonder? Let us give you a bit more detail: The bootcamp took place over 6 consecutive weeks. Each week consisted of self-study, meaning trails to be completed on Trailhead, a 30-minute Q&A session and a 90-minute review session of the week.

The students learnt the ‘ABC’ a Salesforce Admin needs to know, from structuring data with objects, fields and relationships to setting up workflow automation. With the completion of the training, participants were ready and prepared to take the final exam. Find out more on the Trailblazer Virtual Bootcamp for New Admins.

Assuming the corporate world is new to students, and to give the best experience possible, Deloitte DC offered the “ask the expert” sessions in addition to the bootcamp, to give students the chance to clarify any open questions which haven’t been covered previously.

And to introduce them to the corporate world, students were invited to Deloitte’s offices. Here they had the chance to dive into the work life of a consultant and network with experts working in the Salesforce department. And if this was not enough, with a passed certification, the students qualified themselves for a fast-track hire by Deloitte DC in Switzerland.